sleep paralysis

[dregon 0]

I wonder if anyone here has any experience with sleep paralysis? I remember reading somewhere that the average person will get it 4-6 times in their life however I personally got it every night for a year straight when I was 17. I think it was linked to extreme anxiety I had at the time and would often get nightmares and the "falling feeling" that would wake me up or cause me to have restless sleep. I eventually learned to control it because before i would go into paralysis I would feel the "falling" and would force myself to wake up. Until now I have not been able to explain what would have caused this level of sleep disturbance, I can only relate it back to my anxiety.

[ProLogiC 2]

I actually suffer from Sleep Paralysis, although it's not every night it is more often than I would like it to be, I actually think it differs from case to case, some cases; Sleep Apnea (long pauses in breathing) plays apart in it.

With me, when it happens and also the symptoms of Sleep Paralysis is when the body goes into the dream state before the brain has, miss-communication then causes the brain to think you are actually awake but you are temporarily unable to move and again in my case and more often than not, I actually cannot breathe as if someone was sitting on my chest.

I'm not sure if what you experienced is actual Sleep Paralysis unless of course you missed out where you woke up and were unable to move, but then again, I'm no expert and only recently discovered that I do suffer from it.

Please don't take this post as a direct disagreement to yourself, I would suggest you just get some clarification the next time it happens, because there apparently is ways of 'treating it' but I have yet to try them.

But you are on the right lines, Sleep Paralysis can be twinned with Anxiety Disorders, Sleep Apnea and even Narcolepsy.

I hope this helps in some way.

[Gilly 1086]

I know hipsta suffers from sleep paralysis and I have been meaning to ask him this. When my anxiety was really high I had a few episodes, I'm not sure what it was and often wondered if it was sleep paralysis or something similar. Every time I would feel I was awake and one time I remember really vividly I saw a big spider on the curtain but was unable to move to do anything about it, then the next thing I was really awake and nothing was there, I even jumped out of bed freaking out, put the light on, nothing there but it felt so real.

I'm not sure what that was, a very vivid dream? It felt too real to be a dream. That's why I wondered if that was like sleep paralysis. It has never happened when I am not going through high anxiety or stress.

[thehipsta 8]

Hi folks...yeah sleep paralysis, I am the archetypal sufferer, the awful demonic attacks, the hanging man, the feeling of absolute and unstoppable evil...( I shouldn't be watching Carpenters The Fog really should I? lol) I have been prescribed venlafaxine to stop it as it suppresses REM sleep, and this has helped. I do believe that anxiety is linked into it somehow, but I am so unsure how its silly.

I fear sleep.

[ProLogiC 2]

What we have all experienced is linked pretty tightly, another common thing that is associated with Sleep Paralysis is; Lucid Dreaming, basically where you are not able to differentiate between being awake or being asleep whilst dreaming.

You are aware that it's a dream and to some extent you can control waht images you see and in a lot of cases you wake up and cannot tell if what you were dreaming was real or not, until you turn on the light or check the curtain

@Thehipster No, I don't think watching The fog contributes to your fear of sleep, maybe Bambi?

[dregon 0]

What i had was definetly sleep paralysis. What i'm having now i'm not so sure... perhaps lucid dreaming. I get a dream about something I cant figure out is reality or dream... for example, someone coming up the steps and trying to come into my room...and i'll get scared, and start getting the "falling" feeling, and then before they can come into my room, or do something climactic, I scare myself awake.

[gettingthere 2]

Hi folks...yeah sleep paralysis, I am the archetypal sufferer, the awful demonic attacks, the hanging man, the feeling of absolute and unstoppable evil...( I shouldn't be watching Carpenters The Fog really should I? lol) I have been prescribed venlafaxine to stop it as it suppresses REM sleep, and this has helped. I do believe that anxiety is linked into it somehow, but I am so unsure how its silly.

I fear sleep.

I don't want to preach as i don't know what you believe, but when you mentioned demonic attack i wanted to just say that i am a Christian and do actually believe sleepy paralysis is demonic . I now physically make the sign of the cross from the top of my head down my neck chest and stomach and plead the blood of Jesus over myself . I hate these attacks . Sorry if you are not of any faith i just wanted to share how i deal with this . Like i say i don't preach i only like to share and if i can help .